Fall is in the air...and Halloween is just around the corner!!!

The square above, is a block for October on my door, I pieced the block, and my friend, Nicki Seavey did the embellishments!

We just got back from a week's long driving trip, down through Utah, into Arizona to Lake Havasu and Yuma. We absolutely loved the Lake Havasu area. We were looking at which area would be good for winter rv living...which the Lake would win! All of the southern area is a massive are for winter living, though we were early enough to see many empty spots. But in checking with several campgrounds, they were pretty much booked up for the winter...you need to make reservations in February!!! 

  There is an actual London Bridge, taken apart in London, and brought over here, brick by brick and rebuilt. It was truly awesome!

That first evening, we went to check in to our hotel, parking the car.  Our car is a Town car, which when you stop the wheels against the concrete stops, it overhangs by at least 2 or 3 feet. Consequently, as I walked around the front of the car, I slammed into a pipe cover with my right foot.

And I went sailing into the air, and did a belly flop onto the concrete. I automatically put my hands out in front of me, and prevented hitting my face on the concrete. Needless to say, my hands took the brunt of the fall.  The next morning, my hubby took me to the nearest Urgent Care, and had my hands ex-rayed.  Thank God, no broken bones! The PA was amazed, that being 66, I am not on any medications, and that I didn't break anything! Yesterday, we saw our local chiropractor, and he adjusted me, and said I would be sore for a while, but he felt I didn't break anything, because I am not on any medications. Of course, taking a high dose Vitamin D3 along with Collagen, might have also helped!
  The next day we stayed over-nite in Yuma, but not really impressed, so we pushed on to San Diego!
  The next day we spent all day at the San Diego Zoo! And we still didn't get to everything!  We were really impressed with how the Zoo is responsible with saving many species from extinction!

Beautiful flamingos are my favorite! They are so elegant. Especially when they sleep!

That's his head on his back, buried in his feathers! I love how they will fold one skinny leg up, and sleep on one leg!!!

Of course, the giraffs were captivating!  The Zoo has five of them!

I could bore you with hundreds of photos of all the animals! If you have never been to the San Diego Zoo, I would highly recommend it!

Now for the surprise. Hubby told me the next night we would be staying in Long Beach. I knew the Queen Mary is docked there, but didn't think we would make it this trip.  Then we are driving to the Queen Mary and I get excited! The challenge, even to Google, is how to get there.  It's an area that the ships bring in the trailers that truckers pick up and drop off, so needless to say, we were a small vehicle in the area! And Google would suddenly say, take a right, except, we couldn't because of the eighteen-wheelers! So we end up taking three trips up the freeway and back again to get to the turn off!!! I was ready to tell hubby to never mind, when we finally made it into the parking lot.  The attendant asked Sandy if you want the tour parking lot or the hotel lot. Surprise for me, he says, the hotel lot.  I told him, we can't do that. And he says, yes we can. Because that's where we were sleeping tonight!!!

The luxury of this ship in it's heyday was amazing. We took the tour of the whole ship. This tour guide was a hoot.

Every time we had to move to the next spot, he would say, loudly, "This way, my visiting family!"

The pictures of visiting dignitaries were all over the ship: Churchill, President Kennedy, and many actors and actresses.

We watched the sun set on the deck with the lounge, having a glass of wine, and hubby a beer.

Then we went to our room for the night.

With the coolness of the evening, we could leave the porthole open and sleep with the fresh night air!
Another tour was the  Princess Diana tour. The history started with the Queen Mary through Diana and her sons. Well done! Lots of her actual dresses are on board! But we were not allowed to take photos!

The next morning we had a buffet breakfast, and then did self tours from the top in the communication room to the bottom in the engine room!

Now it was time to get to Torrance where hubby grew up and graduated, which we were there for two days, Saturday evening will be the 50th Class Reunion!

Of course, there was traffic to deal with!

Our destination...Tony's on the Pier... by the time the sun was going down. It's a tradition with us!

We just made it!!!

We had a wine/beer and then made our way to another hotel! 7 hotels in 8 nights!!! The next day, Saturday, we drove around town for Sandy's reminiscing!!! Then suddenly we are on another freeway and getting off at Knots Drive, so I thought we were going to Knots Berry Farm! Which we did have lunch at the Mrs. Knots Chicken Restaurant! But hubby surprised me again!

Well, you can imagine a crazy quilter was in Heaven...Sandy said go have fun, while he waits in the car.  He actually used the time to reacquaint himself with his classmates from the annual!

Lots of star fabrics!!!

And then I had to look at the Under The Sea fabrics!

Another art quilt I am interested in exploring, is Arizona Landscapes!

Now I mostly bought just 1/4 yards, so it's not as much fabric as it looks!!! 

Then it was time to cross town in traffic again, and get ready for hubby's reunion!  It was held at the Cheesecake Factory in Redondo Beach!

Then the next morning, time to drive home, making the night in Cedar City, with getting home on Monday late afternoon.

Big surprise...snow in them there hills of Utah!!!

I met some of Sandy's classmates and had some interesting conversations!! One couple next to me had told me about taking a cruise to the Caribbean with an astronomer! New addition to bucket list!!!

So they told me about a free app for the phone called Star Chart! It is so cool...look at these pictures I took last night.

By holding down the button on the right of the phone at the same time with the button at the bottom, you can take a screen picture!!!

Well, all in all, we had a great trip. But now it's time for lunch and a nap!!

Thanks for visiting!!!

FAIR DAYS OVER!!!

It's hard to believe, that fall is just around the corner!!!!

I call this piece Autumn Days!!! I did it at the request of Pamela Kellogg who publishes our Crazy Quilt Quarterly magazine. She wanted me to highlight how I incorporate Shibori Ribbon in my artwork.See a tutorial in this issue. Since the magazine is a print on demand, you can order any back issues.

So how did I do at the Idaho State Fair? This is a Christmas ornament that I made at least in 1998!!!

I am featuring a tutorial on how to make it in the above magazine in the first issue of 2018!

 Be watching for that!!!!

The next is a purse I made a couple years ago, sold about 4 of them, and as a last minute, thought about entering in the fair.

The next item is special to me, my dad had asked if I could make him a neck pillow to watch TV with. So I did, using men's silk ties. Kept the stitching to very basic, even some machine stitching so that it would be comfortable.  He loved it, and used it for several years till he passed away in 2006. Then my mom sent it to me.

My last piece is also a favorite of mine. I started it in May 2007 by attending my first of four classes with Judith Baker Montano.  It took me four years to finish it!! It is actually four blocks of 12" by 12", but I embellished it to hide the seams.

I was disappointed to see this hanging by safety pins, upside down, and low enough for kids to pick at. And then it got no recognition!!!

But then we came back a week later and found it had been moved, and covered by plastic!!

I was able to thank Connie Tabor, the superintendent for moving it and for awarding it a gift of her choice!!!

So naturally, I did feel better!!!  Best of all, it is no longer a UFO, and can be hung for me and hubby to enjoy!!!
One thing I have learned about getting crazy quilts into the fair...do not look for "crazy quilts" on their schedule.  When ours added it as a category a couple years ago, they had to be bed size!!!
I look for a category that matches my object...such as below...

See, 541...it's where my ornament was judged under. If I can't find an appropriate category, I have used "Not Specified".  I don't even know how many ornaments were there!! I just find this method gets me more ribbons, 8 out of 9 items!!!
 

I will get back to my 2020 Challenge after a fun trip planned to Los Angeles. As always, thanks for visiting!!

Is it really approaching the end of August already?

So much has been happening this summer! I will catch you up on my 2020 Challenge, but first I wanted to share our Arizona trip in July. Yes, July!!! It was hot, but when those tremendous Monsoon rains came in, it cooled down and gave us a break!!

We had almost 10 days, while staying at Worldmart in Scottsdale, we drove everyday to see Sedona, Payson, and Prescott and just about every nook and corner of the whole area!!!

While having a burger in Prescott, the Monsoon rains came in...and we were really glad we were inside!

You definitely take cover when it rains this hard!

In Sedona, which we spent a couple days here, we found a wonderful quilt store called, Quilter's Store Sedona. You can visit their Facebook page also.

While the lady helped me with my purchases, helping me find more and more "star" fabrics, she was fascinated with my idea.  So she took me to the next building where they have classes, and showed me the most magnificent quilt. It is called Spiral Galaxy by Jody Gagnon.

It was such a joy and pleasure to see it in person. It literally sparkles. You can see it on the store's Facebook site, and also on Quilt Inspiration blog site. Thanks ladies for a wonderful visit!!! I am enjoying my fabrics!!!

One of the days, we manage to get down to Tucson to visit with my sister.  Sandy enjoyed a quiet day relaxing while we went shopping.  The minute we walked into The West Inc. I knew I was in trouble!!!  

 Literally, hundreds of threads of all types covered one whole wall!!! A sales lady walks up to me and ask if she could help me.  Well, Betsy Libby was just the best!!! When I told her that I was working on a project that needed lots of blues, purples, and whites, and special charms, but only needed one of each...she looked at me and asked, "Are you doing the 2020 Challenge?" That about knocked me over!!! I said, "how do you know about that?" Well, she is on Crazy Quilt Divas and follows all of us doing the Challenge!!! So then she really got into it, and found some discontinued and marked down threads in the classroom...don't miss that room!!!!

Thanks, again, Betsy, I know there's at least a couple of Divas that have visited the store!!!

Well, we enjoyed our trip so much, that we are planning on spending some time in the 5th wheel this winter in Arizona!!!

 

Now, an update on my 2020 Challenge called "Gospel in the Stars". It's never too late to start your own challenge.

 

I keep adding to my "library" of books on the stars...

And each one adds a bit more to my knowledge, and I have to say, my faith. It's not that the stars justify the Bible. It just fascinates me that God named the stars for the benefit of early man. "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." Psalm 147:4, King James. 

This is God's astronomy, not man's astrology. God forbids us to seek to know the future through the stars, or anything else:

   "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
  For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee."  Deu 18:10-12 King James

 

So I left off starting Scorpio on my last post. So here it is finished.

I have found these charts on the net, mostly in Pinterest, and you can find them and more on my board: 

Constellations...Gospel story in the Stars

If anyone knows who these trace back to, I would like to acknowledge them here, and possibly on the quilt.

Sagittarius was next. The shibori ribbon on the lower left is done to symbolize the bow above! Loved finding the "diamond" arrow, placed to land on the dragon!!!

 

Next is Capricorn:

 

The last one just finished, Aquarius, makes the halfway point of the 12 constellations.

 

If you don't believe in Unicorns?   "God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows." 
Num 24:8 King James

So look closely, there's a Unicorn included!!!

 

As you can see from each chart, there are three other constellations that help tell the whole story. Which makes 48 constellations in all. Each chart gives us the stars names in ancient languages, usually Hebrew, but also can be Arabic, Coptic or Chaldean. The last column gives us Bible references.

 

So total count to date:  Fabrics: 65; embellishments: 255!!! Sometimes I think of a charm to add after the fact, so the numbers may change by the end...

 

The twelve constellation blocks will line up like above.

 

Then with these fabrics, I will make a circle in the middle.  I may also do the blues as another set of blocks around the first set.  So there's lots of room to meet my 2020 Challenge!!!!

 

Thanks for visiting....and Happy Stitching!!!